Comprehensive Agricultural Development to Focus on Supporting Regional Advantageous and Distinctive Industries Starting Next Year

Economic Daily, Beijing, November 17 dispatch (reporter Cui Wenyuan). The "Guiding Opinions on Supporting Agriculture's Advantageous and Distinctive Industries through Comprehensive Agricultural Development to Promote the Development of Agricultural Industrialization" released today by the Ministry of Finance makes clear that starting from 2016, the industrialized operation projects of comprehensive agricultural development will focus on supporting regional advantageous and distinctive agricultural industries.

According to the guiding opinions, for advantageous and distinctive industries included in the priority support scope of comprehensive agricultural development, through key support and continuous support, efforts will be made to use 3 years to initially form 1 to 2 advantageous and distinctive industries in each comprehensive agricultural development county, form about 10 in each province as a unit, and initially form across the country a cluster of regional advantageous and distinctive agricultural industries with relatively large resource comparative advantages, long industrial chain extensions, integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries, and strong demonstration and driving effects.

There are also new changes in the way fiscal funds support distinctive agricultural industries, shifting from the previous “leading” role to a “guiding” role. The guiding opinions make clear that it is necessary to fully give play to the guiding and leverage role of fiscal funds with respect to financial capital and social capital, adjust and improve the way fiscal funds support advantageous and distinctive agricultural industries, and gradually form a diversified support system that mainly relies on loan interest subsidies, is supplemented by fiscal subsidies, and coexists with multiple forms such as fiscal equity investment funds.